James Doohan was an Irish-Canadian, Scotch Whisky does not have an 'e', and the possessive of man is man's, with an apostrophe.

You're right about the deep-fried food, though...

"I don't mean to sound bitter, cynical or cruel; but I am, so that's how it comes out." ~ Bill Hicks."To argue with a person who has renounced reason is like administering medicine to the dead." ~ Thomas Paine."One should not believe everything one reads on the internet." ~ Abraham Lincoln."If you're making a political point wearing a balaclava, you're a c***. It was true for the IRA and it's true now." ~ daftbeaker.

Also: please be kind and keep sending over the Scotch Whisky, please, Oh God of All That Flies and Flings Pastarific Appendages! Every whisky made in the western hemisphere is a horrible torture to the palate and soul. Honest.

In case you didn't realize it, I DO have a sense of humor. How about you?"I will not fear. Fear is the mind-killer... I will face my fear. I will let it pass over and through me, and when it has gone, only I will remain." --The Bene Gesserit"Time is a spiral. Space is a curve. I know you get dizzy, but try not to lose your nerve." -- Neil Peart"I'm not in the ship. I am the ship." -- River Tam"The truth is simple. It's the lies that get complicated." -- me"No matter where you go, there you are." --Buckaroo Banzai

"It was very painful and felt like I was being chainsawed in the stomach with hot sauce on the chainsaw," she told BBC. Kim, it should be noted, came in second (loser), while the winner "ate the last bowl in four seconds and then ran outside to be sick," the way champions do.

"How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, 'This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant. God must be even greater than we dreamed'? Instead they say, 'No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.'" - Carl Sagan

"To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection." - Henri Poincaré

Here is what Victoria Taylor, senior dietitian at the BHF actually wrote:

...saying the rest of the UK should follow England’s lead to cut heart deaths isn’t a foolproof solution; a quarter of English adults are obese and only 30 per cent eat their five-a-day.

I doubt if any journalists who wrote aabout this today actually read the original piece, since it is a meta-analysis and quite heavy on the statistical methods. By the time the story has been lifted second-hand from the BHF's website and re-interpreted, it bears scant resemblance to the original piece of work.

"I don't mean to sound bitter, cynical or cruel; but I am, so that's how it comes out." ~ Bill Hicks."To argue with a person who has renounced reason is like administering medicine to the dead." ~ Thomas Paine."One should not believe everything one reads on the internet." ~ Abraham Lincoln."If you're making a political point wearing a balaclava, you're a c***. It was true for the IRA and it's true now." ~ daftbeaker.

DavidH wrote:Sorry to annoy you, Roy. I'm quite prepared to believe that the original research has been distorted by the media; that's par for the course.

Quite all right David, I saw it on the BBC, then I read it in the Herald, and when I got to Venganza and the Scottish Diet thread had a new post, I knew exactly what it was. I was already annoyed by it before I got here.

The thing is, I have met and corresponded with Victoria Taylor. She's smart and articulate, and she has always given me the impression that she can play the media game well without getting her name attached to dubious stories like this one. Maybe she had a bad day? Maybe someone pp-ed her on the press release? I don't know...

"I don't mean to sound bitter, cynical or cruel; but I am, so that's how it comes out." ~ Bill Hicks."To argue with a person who has renounced reason is like administering medicine to the dead." ~ Thomas Paine."One should not believe everything one reads on the internet." ~ Abraham Lincoln."If you're making a political point wearing a balaclava, you're a c***. It was true for the IRA and it's true now." ~ daftbeaker.

"I don't mean to sound bitter, cynical or cruel; but I am, so that's how it comes out." ~ Bill Hicks."To argue with a person who has renounced reason is like administering medicine to the dead." ~ Thomas Paine."One should not believe everything one reads on the internet." ~ Abraham Lincoln."If you're making a political point wearing a balaclava, you're a c***. It was true for the IRA and it's true now." ~ daftbeaker.

The Scots do it right. A couple years ago me wench and I were in Edinborough and went to a Chinese restaurant, in pursuit of noodles. All entres came with choice of rice or chips (steak fries for Americans).

dwbzuggy wrote:The Scots do it right. A couple years ago me wench and I were in Edinborough and went to a Chinese restaurant, in pursuit of noodles. All entres came with choice of rice or chips (steak fries for Americans).

Glorious food, to mix with single malt and ale!

There is of course the good old Scottish compromise of "Half rice, half chips". FML...

"I don't mean to sound bitter, cynical or cruel; but I am, so that's how it comes out." ~ Bill Hicks."To argue with a person who has renounced reason is like administering medicine to the dead." ~ Thomas Paine."One should not believe everything one reads on the internet." ~ Abraham Lincoln."If you're making a political point wearing a balaclava, you're a c***. It was true for the IRA and it's true now." ~ daftbeaker.

dwbzuggy wrote:The Scots do it right. A couple years ago me wench and I were in Edinborough and went to a Chinese restaurant, in pursuit of noodles. All entres came with choice of rice or chips (steak fries for Americans).

Glorious food, to mix with single malt and ale!

There is of course the good old Scottish compromise of "Half rice, half chips". FML...

It wasn't in Scotland but I have heard about a menu offering mash, chips and rice with unspecified 'sauce'. Who needs anything other than carbohydrates? (This may have been an urban legend, I never saw the restaurant or menu in question.)

A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything - Friedrich Nietzsche

The great thing about Beaker is his ability to provoke while still being decorous, or at least within acceptable rules of conduct - Qwertyuiopasd

My father-in-law grew up in rural Perthshire, Scotland. For breakfast he would have porridge. For lunch, he'd walk home and have a slice of cold, congealed porridge. For tea, he'd have another slice of porridge with jam on (if he was lucky). No, that isn't one of those "When I were a lad…" stories. It was just what a poor Scottish kid ate, growing up on a farm in the depression; and he said he felt lucky to have a full stomach when many of his classmates only got one meal a day.

Is it a wonder that when they were finally able to get their mouths around high-calorie foods they went a little over-the-top?

daftbeaker wrote:I heard a story about deep fried pizza which sounds no less horrific than the Mars bars. I wonder if someone's tried to do a 'healthy' option and deep fry salad?

When I first arrived in Scotland in 1979-ish, we went to the chip shop and ordered a pizza off the menu. Believe it or not, they ask if you want a cheese, mushroom, onion or ham pizza before they fold it in half and deep fry it for you.Like anal sex and morris dancing, it's something you should try once...

"I don't mean to sound bitter, cynical or cruel; but I am, so that's how it comes out." ~ Bill Hicks."To argue with a person who has renounced reason is like administering medicine to the dead." ~ Thomas Paine."One should not believe everything one reads on the internet." ~ Abraham Lincoln."If you're making a political point wearing a balaclava, you're a c***. It was true for the IRA and it's true now." ~ daftbeaker.

I think all that statistical analysis is a load of crap. As far as I can tell, at this point in history all nations have the same death rate when all is said and done: 100%. Everyone dies of something eventually. Telomere rejuvenation and other treatments may change this any day now, in which case humanity must take a serious look at our systematic over-reproduction tendencies, eh? There are over twice as many people now as when I was a child, and 7x as many as when my grandfather was young, despite the flu pandemics and world wars and genocides. Since my family has been the same size for the last 120 years, I blame others for the depredation of the planet, so there. Too many people!

Meanwhile, in hybrid cultures such as Scotland, you have people who are part celt, part norse, and may have some arctic/sami metabolism genes floating about as well, especially in the northern reaches and isles, thanks to interbreeding with norwegians, etc. Arctic cultures tolerate and thrive at much higher levels of fat and protein in their diet (up to 60% fats in some eskimo/inuit tribes!), and data regarding life expectancy is always clouded with higher rates of infant/child mortality and poor medical facilities available at all ages. For those who think that cold climate alone is responsible for indigenous lifespans... piss off! We can take the cold. One of my mother's uncles was a locksmith after he was 70 and still went out to unlock cars and otherwise help folk in the deep of Chicago winters when he was 96, no problem. I wear shorts and a t-shirt with a light jacket when it's below 0°C. It's the deadly breads/complex carbs that hurt us, but governments don't talk about that because grain-carbs are cheap feed for big cities, which means more taxes. What are we, cows?

Because the specialized metabolic patterns of ancient tribes have been so mixed in modern times, I think each person has to discover for themselves what makes their body work. Some people can live to 100 eating bacon and eggs and steak every day, with a generous dose of pipe-smoking alongside, while others need to concentrate on fruits and veggies and watch their cholesterol like a hawk.

Personally, I think that quality of life and total fitness is worth a lot more than any 1 factor, and worth more than total longevity. Averages are about bragging rights; they don't address quality of life. If deep-fried foods keep you active and alert and in shape, that's fabulous. Enjoy! If apples and spinach are what you need to stay trim and moving, then go with that instead. Total health is a personal path, not one guaranteed by following statistics and government guidelines based on averages. A good day's work and some aerobic workout is worth more than a hundred subtle factors with thresholds below statistical significance.

In case you didn't realize it, I DO have a sense of humor. How about you?"I will not fear. Fear is the mind-killer... I will face my fear. I will let it pass over and through me, and when it has gone, only I will remain." --The Bene Gesserit"Time is a spiral. Space is a curve. I know you get dizzy, but try not to lose your nerve." -- Neil Peart"I'm not in the ship. I am the ship." -- River Tam"The truth is simple. It's the lies that get complicated." -- me"No matter where you go, there you are." --Buckaroo Banzai